3 Assailants Sought in Beating of Sikh Man

Published: July 12, 2004

A Sikh man wearing the turban and beard that are symbols of his faith was confronted by three men drinking cocktails on a Queens sidewalk yesterday and beaten into unconsciousness, according to the victim and two witnesses.

The police said last night that the beating, which occurred outside an Italian restaurant in an enclave of Sikh immigrants in Richmond Hill, was under investigation, but was being treated as a simple assault, not a bias crime, because there was insufficient evidence that ethnic slurs had been used. They said three men were being sought.

The Sikh man, Rajinder Singh Khalsa Ji, 54, a limousine driver who immigrated with his family to Queens from India in the mid-1990's, was taken by ambulance about 5:30 p.m. to Jamaica Hospital. In a telephone interview from his hospital bed, he said he had multiple cuts and bruises, and might have a broken nose.

He said he and a fellow Sikh, Singh Gurcharan, were approached by three men in their early 20's, all of whom appeared drunk, as they walked past Il Palazzo di Villa Russo, a catering hall at the corner of Lefferts Boulevard and 101st Street.

The young men ridiculed both Sikh men by referring to their turbans as dirty curtains and telling them to take them off, Mr. Gurcharan said by telephone last night.

''He cussed at me, and I told him that this is not a curtain, this is my turban and it is a religious symbol,'' said Mr. Gurcharan, the owner of a nearby restaurant, Tandoori Express, where he and Mr. Khalsa Ji intended to have tea when they left their car on the street and walked past the catering hall.

The sidewalk confrontation reflected a vulnerability of Sikhs in New York City and elsewhere, particularly since the 9/11 attacks, to being singled out for discrimination or attacks because they appear to be Muslims.

''I tried to explain to them that we are not Muslims, and that we cover our heads out of respect for God,'' said Mr. Khalsa Ji, who is an honorary priest among Queens Sikhs and who frequently speaks in Sikh temples on the importance of the Sikh traditions and culture.

By 9 last night, Il Palazzo di Villa Russo, which bears a plaque indicating that it opened in 1954, had closed. A neighbor, who lives across 101st Street and who declined to be identified by name, said she had heard shouting and looked out her window to see two middle-age Sikh men being attacked by a group of young men.

''One of the older guys ran away, but five or six young guys were kicking and stomping the other one,'' she said. ''I heard the older guys saying 'We live here, this is our home,''' she said.

According to Mr. Gurcharan, verbal insults turned to violence when he told the young men he would call 911 on his cellphone.

At that point, an older man, who was apparently attending the same social function at the catering hall, appeared on the sidewalk and warned them not to call the police, Mr. Khalsa Ji said.

Mr. Gurcharan said he called 911 anyway. But by the time the police and an ambulance appeared on the scene, he said, Mr. Kalsa Ji had been beaten and kicked so badly that he had lost consciousness, only to regain it on the way to Jamaica Hospital. In the meantime, Mr. Gurcharan said, their assailants, who eventually included at least five young men, had driven away in two cars.